Hospital Compliance Reminder: LTC Facility Admissions

September 22, 2022

Memorandum

On Sept. 16, the Illinois Dept. of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) issued a Provider Notice reminding hospitals of the redesigned and mandatory preadmission assessment processes for long term care facilities (as part of the Preadmission Screening and Resident Review, or PASRR, program). Since March 14, these processes have been initiated in the web-based AssessmentPro system provided by the state's vendor, Maximus, with a timeline of the changes and subsequent requirements outlined in the notice.

Although overall provider adoption has gone well, the notice highlights the following issues and upcoming changes impacting hospitals: 

  • When utilizing AssessmentPro to submit PASRR Level I screenings, some individual users and facilities are receiving automatic approvals for their cases at a rate that is statistically improbable. Currently, there is no way for hospitals to directly see which users in their facility are receiving automatic approvals for their cases above the standard deviation, but HFS plans to contact users for additional training and technical assistance. As a reminder, with each Level I screen submission, a user attestation is required that confirms information is accurate and reflective of the individual's current condition and known history. IHA encourages hospitals to highlight the attestation and web-based training resources with existing AssessmentPro users, while also considering registering additional users to support capacity for required preadmission processes, especially for weekend coverage. There is no limit to the permitted number of AssessmentPro users at hospitals.
  • The COVID-related flexibility allowing preadmission assessments up to ten days post-admission will be discontinued on November 1, 2022. Payment for post-acute services in nursing facilities, specialized mental health rehabilitation facilities and supportive living providers is also not allowable unless all required assessments, and subsequent determinations, are completed prior to admission. 

In addition, the notice shared hyperlinks to previous HFS Provider Notices on these processes, help desk information (emails and phone numbers), and resources on AssessmentPro, PASRR requirements, and user training. For previous IHA Memos on these processes, see:

Contact us for any additional questions or comments.